Lament of the Moonless Nights of Nippon
by YoshiFurbyPhoenixGirl257
Summary: It was a phenomenon Agata Forest knew, but when the Moon God, Yumigami, is suspected a traitor by her family, the tragedy struck all of Nippon. Shocked numb by betrayal, Yumigami must nevertheless face her people and uncover the truth of the Moon Tribe.
1. Expulsion I: Memory

**I know its been a long time since I updated and I apologize. I'm trying a slightly different format with shorter chapters, if you think what I had before was better, please let me know.**

Here is a quick reference list of the gods;

Tachi – Rat, f. sword

Ite – Ox, m. ice

Geki – Tiger, m. thunder

Yumi – Rabbit, f. moon

Yomi – Dragon, m. creation

Nuri – Snake, f. water

Kazi – Horse, f. wind

Hanagmi:

Sakigami, f. bloom

Hasugami, m. lily

Tsutgami, m. vine

Kasugami – Ram, m. mist

Moegami – Phoenix, m. fire

Ammy (Amaterasu)(Okami) (mother)– Wolf, f. Sun

Bakugami – Boar, m. Cherry bomb

Kabegami: Cat, f. walls (what kind of power is that anyways? Sleep, wind, water, sun, moon and... walls??!! poor Kabegami. Oh well, she seems to like them.)

The bleary-eyed hare looks out across Shinshu field, her heart hammering. It has been eleven days since Yumigami fled the Celestial Plains, and for eleven days, she had stood there, unmoving save for tears gently flowing.

Her ear flicked as a moth landed on it, and with it she was brought out of her trance. Blinking, the hare gazed around, getting a better scope of where she was. Yumi took a tentative hop forward...

A loud snap echoed in Yumi's ears, and the next thing she knew, the hare was ensnared. _Is this my fate?_ the goddess wondered, _to have my people and my family turned against me? To then be captured and hunted as a wild animal, nothing more than a food source for those 'higher' than I?_

She could have tried to escape, but the trials thrown at her had drained her of strength, and she was content here, and try as she might, she could not get herself to move, so entranced was she by the meteor shower.

The hare's gaze pierced the dim sky, the moon still, lifeless, little more than reflecting sunlight, and as such the goddess hardly breathed, not a muscle twitched, as she once more found herself reflecting at the sudden roller coaster that had brought her to this point.

_How did this happen,_ the question echoed in her head, again, and again, _How could this be?_ Still the stars streaked, and the heavens lamenting for the loss of their goddess.

Yumigami sighed, the memory tormented her, but she could not help but look back on it...

_I had been hovering in the void between Nippon and the Celestial Plain, the lunar rice paste had been bombarded by my furious strikes and blows, the energy from the pummeling sending silver beams cascading to the world below, and simultaneously creating the most blessed of all foods, mochi. _

_Bakugami had offered to come and help, but for whatever reason I hadn't particularly want my mochi being blasted into oblivion every ten seconds. The sky has enough stars, and Kazigami was tired of running to the edges of the universe to retrieve them. _

_Besides, I could make mochi by myself, and I didn't exactly savor the idea my family seeing this... uglier... side of me. I had whammed the mallet into the rice paste with all of my might, passion, soul, anger, and being that I could muster. _

_I had been ticked off, as my damnable siblings – Moegami, a jerk of a phoenix, and Nurigami, a snake of a serpent or a serpent of a snake, all being one and the same when it came to that loser, had, once __again__, decided to hide my Lucky Mallet in Nippon, and now here I was using this dumb wooden one, the moonlight absolutely fortuneless._

_I had fumed, fumed as if that was the greatest problem I'd ever come across, and smoke coursed out of my long, pale, and luxuriously furred ears. Time had worn on, my wrath subsided, and mochi completed. _


	2. Chapter 2

In all her life, Yumi knew exactly when she was; she had always been on top of time, and she was an adept of keeping track of it. She had to be if she were to direct the stars in their complicated waltz around one another.

Yet Yumi hadn't the slightest clue how long she had been in her cage, for now, to her, time was meaningless. Actually, almost everything was meaningless, her shock leaving her numb and devoid of all feeling. After what may have well been an eternity, footsteps approached, and a man appeared.

He was tall, dirty, and poorly clothed in simple animal hides, and a stench indicated he didn't bathe too often.

Yumi gulped, and the man's worn hands deftly worked around the mechanisms of the snare, it snapped open just as Yumi was snatched. The hare was taken by surprise – the motion was less harsh than she would have expected.

A soft caress down her back, and she was lifted so her captor could better see her. A shudder ran down Yumi, however, when she saw a knife, dangling by his crude belt, still stained by other victims of necessity.

"Ah, yes, I am sorry," the man said as he saw the rabbit staring at the knife, "But I do this only because I must and I swear it will be quick."

The man withdrew the knife, and Yumi felt certain she would die, perish considered a traitor by all those she held dear.

It was then that Yumi realized there could be no worse fate, nothing could be worse than her own mother believing she was evil. Yumi expected remorse to fill her.

However, it was rage, and her eyes hardened to steely slits as they stared down the man who held her. Yumi beheld this man, so ready to end her life as if she were an ordinary hare, but her thoughts were elsewhere.

_Moegami calls me a traitor!! Moegami IS the traitor. HE is the one who drove me from my own home! And yet he dares declare me traitor!_

Yumi trembled, not of fear but of malice, and the man was so taken a back by the look on the hare's face, interpreting the wrath as directed at him, and he placed Yumi on the ground before taking a few steps back

"My apologies, most noble hare, I took you for a thoughtless common critter, but never have I

seen any animal transmit such tangible emotion," he said with a flourishing bow.

Standing up, he hesitated before adding, "- oh, wait, there was one... A very intellectual looking wolf and a glow-bug thingy. But he was much nicer, that wolf."

_She,_ Yumi thought. _Amaterasu is a __she__. When will these will these humans get it straight??? _

The stress of the past few weeks was too much for Yumi to bear. With a cry she called her mallet, and embraced her wrath, her pent up emotions were released. No longer so ordinary looking, the now-gargantuan white hare spun her mallet around and caught the man on the back as he was walking away, and he shrieked in anguish.

Yumi was not much for one human forms, and besides only a few of her family members could shift into humans as well.

But the situation called for speech, and Yumi leapt in front of the fleeing man, landing and shifting simultaneously. A tall lithe woman now barred the man's path, her skin icy, her eyes fiery, hair sweeping to her calf, blacker than abyssal obsidian, blowing every which way, silver glowing orbs intermingled with the wind-blown undulating locks, and garbed in a shimmering raiment of stern teal.

"COMMON CRITTER???" Yumi's voice thundered like a cannon.

"You DARE ensnare the daughter of stars?" It was the man's turn to gulp, and he groveled before the goddess, begging for mercy, but fell upon on deaf ears. "Forgive me... I did not see your true form..."

"TRUE FORM???? YOU THINK THIS, THIS GUISE OF YOUR KIND, YOUR _DESPICABLE_ KIND, IS MY TRUE FORM!" the goddess bellowed and kicked at the man's face, screaming, "YUMIGAMI! THAT IS WHO I AM!! I AM THE HARE!"

All of Yumi's anger and malice she then unleashed on the simple man, her mallet cracking several of his ribs.

Yumi understood that her actions merited the fullest investigation from her family, but caution and moderation far from her, eons and countless miles away. Hurling her mallet at the first cock who came strutting across her path, Yumi now tiraded the man, oblivious to her own tears racing down her cheeks.

"WHAT DID I DO TO DESERVE ALL THIS?? WHY! WHY! WHY! HOW COULD YOU END MY LIFE WHILE I AM IN DISGRACE! DO YOU NOT HONOR THE GODS??" Near unconscious, the human could only murmur, "didn't.... know." Then he passed out.

Yumi's shouts and fits of anger slowly diminished to sobs and trembles of sorrow and guilt. And shame, shame she had never known before, shame of attacking this innocent man.

_But he wasn't innocent, _Yumi thought, _he was going to kill me_. The words ended hollowly in her mind; she knew he hadn't known, and when he realized the truth he was more than willing to let her go.

Yumi fought to accept her excuse, but it was just that: an excuse; and she knew it.

Shock. Yumi hardly ever lost control, she had a steel-tight leash on her temper, she almost always pented it within until she could take it out and turn her useless rage into delectable mochi.

Now, however, she had full-out turned on the man, a living thing, as an object of her rage. Horrified of herself, the woman started to shift into her native form, but her image wavered, and re-solidified.

Silently, her hands reached up into her hair, combing down through its length, collecting the orbs as she went. She beheld them, pulsing with life, beautiful beyond imagining... _They deserve better than a monster like me... _

The goddess gingerly glided forward, laid at her victim's side, and placed the orbs on him.

"Farewell..." she whispered, pressing the tiny points of being sparkling with incandescence into the man. Seven orbs, however, had rolled to the man's side.

Yumi gathered them, stroked them, and prepared to send them glittering on their way. But she couldn't.

For all her life she had had these stars, they were apart of her. Slowly, one after another, she positioned them down the middle of her hair, ever so slightly staggered.


	3. Chapter 3

_ As placidly as any moon goddess should, I hopped home, not too concerned about my lucky mallet since I had inspired a poncle to find my mallet, have an adventure, and return it to me. _

_A scene of absolute serenity had greeted me, but little did I know it would be my last – oh, if only I could go back to then! If only this never happened... _

_Mother Amaterasu was laying there, her lupine form basking in the light of the celestial plain, glowing white coat flickering, glimmering... in deep conversation with my sister... Gekigami and Kazigami raced across the skies as is their want... Moegami was smoking his pipe and Nurigami had once again gotten stuck in her canteen..._

_Where my best friend and brother Bakugami went I do not know. Kabegami had been fishing in the stream while Yomigami was busy painting, though I haven't a clue as to what it was he creating. Itegami had been keeping an alert watch over all, icy winds billowing all around him; and the Hanagami were busy with their antics at Nippon. _

_A slight breeze sent floral aromas wafting through the air and tingling my nose, and the call of a ravishingly resplendent robin rang through my ears; reverberated in my heart. The ram Kasugami and I nibbled contentedly in the grass stained by the brilliant hues of sunlight. We were all in heaven; literally._

A sob rose in Yumigami's throat. Had it really been less than a fortnight ago? What Yumi would give, what Yumi would do, if only she could return to that happier time. She fondled that last memory, tried to focus on it and forget what came after. But it was a futile attempt; she could not deny what followed; try as she might.

_Tachigami came charging in with a screech, a gash already along her side. The warrior rat's call to war roused us all, except my youngest brother. In the forlorn shape of a ram, he struggled to his feet and looked on as the rest of us charged. My favored form of a hare had to be abandoned; it was no good for battle. With quiet fluidity I shifted into a great owl with lethal talons. _

_Battle had never been my forte. I have long been known as the peace-keeper, but against these enemies, negations were not possible, and even to me, daughter of stars, peacekeeper, they never would be. The Moon Tribe had chosen their doom the day when they set sail the Ark of Yamato. _

_I remember the hate – so foreign to me – as I plunged in to the fray, moonlit talons scalding the heads of the traitors, these Moon Tribe who dared attack us at our own home... I remember my mother's Solar Flare flashing and slashing among the enemies, Bakugami had been charging in, deftly rolling in on a cherry bomb before leaping off just half a second before it exploded, blasting seven lithe bodied Moon Tribe away, along with the first of the Hanagami who had arrived. Bellowing, Itegami stampeded into the thick of the battle, his enemies suddenly encased in ice, immobile and helpless against the rampant bull-god. I recall seeing the feline Kabegami leaping up the rock face before pouncing down on top of two Moon Tribe, her fangs bared in a feral snarl before they snapped shut, first on one neck, then, after a good rake in the face, another. At one point or another Tachi was stabbed with a thin deadly rapier before a gust of wind and whinny declared the arrival of Kazigami to Tachi's aid. But for the most part the battle was a blur of blood and gore, it was what transpired next that affected me._

The man groaned, and Yumi bit her lip, snapping out of her reverie. Should she run? Part of her thought, hoped even, that he'd be dead. She desperately desired to forget the crimes she had committed, if only the past two weeks had never happened. Hesitating, Yumi melted into an inconspicuous owl, flitted up to a tree, and watched intently.

He sat up, eyes darting right and left... But, as so many mortals forget, did not look up where Yumi perched in fine ebony plumage. Sighing with relief, he collapsed back down and rested a few minutes.

"It... It must have been a dream," he murmured to himself, and the owl rolled her eyes. First off, it wasn't her power to create dreams. Second, his entire body was blanketed in bruises, and thirdly, she was right here, just above him, and at the slightest provocation he would be dead. Why is it that mortals insist on pinning bad events on dreams? And what drives them to talk to themselves?

"Oh, ow-w-w," he winced as he stretched, shaking his head in confusion. He pulled himself up, glanced around, again failing to spot Yumi, and limped to his cabin, Yumi trailing behind, and as her silky wings battered the breeze, she found her thoughts wondering to that dark pit, maw opened and waiting to receive her mind...

"_I thought," the wind-empress Kazi had said with an impatient stomp of her hoof when the battle was over, "That they would have known better than to attack us here. Do they ever learn?" _

_Geki had pranced up beside, I distinctly remember the thunder bow still crackling on his back and being mystified as to why he insisted on having it with him all the time._

"_Apparently not, Kazi," he had replied with a rather rough shove to his sister, "But who's complaining?" _

_Kasugami, the god of mist, sleep, and dreams, huffed, "I am." _

"_Weakling!" snorted Itegami. _

_The two of them squabbled, while the rest of us rolled our eyes and left them to it. I was just about to leave – the sun was setting and I to make sure that night proceeded as normal when the phoenix Moegami came up next to me, his pipe abandoned, his coal eyes had been dead serious. _Evil. Moegami. Why?

"_Yumi," his voice like dying embers, "I would like to have a word with you – we all would I think." I was more than a little confused. _

_He lead me back, where the rest of the gods had gathered. Moe gestured for me to stay where I was while he moved forward to address my family. _

"_Today, the moon tribe has attacked us. Again. And in spite of our repeated and assured victories over them, despite all the precautions we have taken to keep them out of Celestial Plains, they have come, again and again. How many more battles do you think Kasugami can take?" Moegami was looking directly at me as she spoke, and warning bells echoed in my mind. _

"_How are they accomplishing this? What is driving their madness? Who is the instigator?" Murmurs went around my siblings, my mother watching with passionate attentiveness. _

"_You are right, Moegami, Son of Flame," my mother voiced in an elegant voice, "We must find the new evil and oust it, though I had wished for more peace before returning to this. But today it has been proven that putting it off will accomplish nothing," she had said. _

"_Yes. But we don't need to find it – ousting is all that's left". _

_Gekigami raised his head, his tail simultaneously drawing back his bow string, "You know who it is? Where? Tell me!" _

_Moegami had taken a deep breath. I remember not knowing where the apprehension rose within me, or why. But it was proven true. "The moon tribe long ago swore fealty to one and only one of us. They would never follow any other. It pains me to say this, but I fear the only logical explanation is that it is our beloved sister, Yumigami."_


	4. Chapter 4

The goddess's tears pelted the springy velvet verdant turf below, her heart stung by blow the phoenix dealt. Two weeks had done little to lessen the shock, and Yumi's heart was still somewhere sobbing in her feet, or as it was, talons. Yumi hadn't been able to comprehend it then; she wasn't able to comprehend it now.

Touching ground and quavering into a hare, Yumi found herself motionless. A single question in her mind rose before all others: Did Moegami really believe Yumi had betrayed them? Yumi had no way of telling – her and the phoenix had never gotten along, but would Moegami really go to such lengths?

Doubtful. But maybe; there was no doubting the chance. _What if, what if, what if?_ Yumi's mind wandered in circles, as her eyes blankly stared into the abyss of night to which the man had vanished. The eccentric, hyper phoenix Yumi called brother could be quite cruel, but they were siblings, and it wasn't like Yumi could say she'd never done anything remotely cruel to Moegami. The hare grit her teeth, _what IS going ON?? _ Nothing made even vaguely made sense, it was as if the world had gone legitimately insane. _What AM I going to do?_ The question made her miserable, what _could_ she do?

Brutal gales so frigid Yumi had to wonder whether Itegami came storming down (perhaps with Gekigami and Kazegami as well) whipped winds round and carried howlings of storm and wolf alike. _Plunk! Plunk!_ Yumi's ears flicked at the sound. _Great. Hail._ And for the first time in forever and a year, Yumi did not know whether her family had conspired this storm or not.

Weakly, the hare dragged herself up the path to the man's shabby dwelling, easily finding a defect in the wall, wormed her way into the warm interior, curling near the fire. _I AM crazy. What AM I doing?_ So with that thought the moon goddess Yumigami fell asleep by the hearth. Untreated by Kasugami, Yumi was helpless – her mind was dragged back to her most terrifying memory. "Mother Amaterasu...." the hare dropped into the pit of nightmares.

_Rage, shock, tear stung eyes, fury barely restrained – they coursed had through and drained me of my strength. My jaw sagged, but so, I think, did many of my siblings'. And my mother. _

_Pale, fearful of what Moegami had said was true – it was the most terrible sight ever, my silent family staring at me, horrified at the implication. To my surprise, it was timid Kasugami who spoke first_

_. _

"_This is nonsense Moegami. Why would Yumigami betray us?" _

_Yomigami shifted uneasily. "Perhaps... I hate considering this but it makes sense... Yumi... The moon.. I do not believe it improbable that night may bear a grudge to the bright day when things grow... Yumi... Have you jealousy of your mother?"_

_I was to numb to speak; I was frozen, glued to the spot. Yomi! Yomi! The wise Yomi thought I was a traitor!_

_Once more, it had been that younger brother who had spoken for me, "No. Yumi loves her. Yumi loves me. Yumi is kind. Yumi loves all of us. She is not jealous." _

_With a glance towards the cat who had been innocently licking her paws, he added, "She is no Kabegame." I vaguely recall Kabe's attention snapping to the ram, she hissed menacingly, her fur raised and had fixed Kasugami with a deadly glare. _

_Circling through my head it thundered: my family thought I was a traitor. Yomi thought I was a traitor. Moegami thought I was a traitor. And most terrifying of all, my mother thought there was a possibility as well. Her eyes pierced me, searching, searching, for truth. _

"_Daughter," she had murmured in a grave voice, "please... are you directing your people in these attacks? Please... answer me.." _

_Tears stung my eyes and my voice snagged in my throat. My small form trembled, sobs rose with in me only to be quelched. _

"_Who else," said Moegami, picking his way forward, "Could it be?" _

_Protectively, Kazi came up beside me. "I thought," her breathy voice sounded, "That our long understanding is that the moon tribe has broken from Yumi." _

_Ice whirling around him, Itegami had shaken his head, saying, " Then how are they coming here? They are neither strong nor stupid enough for this all to be of their own doing." _

"_Yami," Nuri had said, finally breaking out of her canteen and gasping for fresh air. _

"_That's dumb. Yami's dead. Hello, remember, idiot!" scoffed Tachi. My rat sister had whirled upon me, her teeth chattering; "What have you done, you traitor?!" Motionless, I had stood there as my sister had charged at me, her sword out and begging for blood. _

"_STOP!" it was Kasu, my loyal, loving brother. _

_Tachi, with a huff of scorn had ceased her charge. She had spat at me and whirled away, dragging her sword behind her. _

"_Yumi...." My mother, again, tears softly rolling out of her eyes. "Answer Tachi's question, though phrased much too rudely. What have you done, daughter of stars?" _

_My stomach had been doing flips, I didn't understand this. I hadn't done anything. _

"_She hasn't done anything. You honestly think that Yumigami, of all goddesses, would betray us!! That's nonsense!" Kasugami, again. I was stunned. I had never known he was such a stalwart defender of his family. _

_It was past midnight then, there was a clear sky, and no moon. Just great. Way to let all of Nippon know that I was in trouble. _

_I didn't know what to do. I didn't know what to think. I couldn't comprehend that this was actually happening. I wanted scream, I wanted to weep, I wanted to light the sky, I wanted to hide under a rock, I wanted to flee to another world. I wanted to move, I wanted to speak. I wanted my family's comfort. I wanted their love. I wanted their trust. I wanted to disappear. _

_I had stood, motionless; rooted to the spot. This had been unbelievable. This can't be happening, this can't be happening, this can't be happening... the words had swirled through my head. _

"_Sister," it was deep, crackling voice. Bakugami, my best friend, after Kasu. "Speak, sister. Let us all know the truth so this stupidity can end. I've almost completed the best cherry bomb the world has ever known. You would enjoy it. Tell Moe he's being nonsensical and I can show you." He had flashed me his friendly smile, and was greeted with... Silence. _

_Words snagged in my throat. I never seen this coming, once life was good and peaceful, then... then all of this... chaos... came storming in. _

_I stood, their, speechless, wide-eyed, trembling. Then I made a fatal mistake: the horror of it all had enacted my flight instinct. _

_I bounded, bounded out of the Celestial Plain, my tears streaking behind me, my family horror-struck at this apparent affirmation of my so-called crime, only watched me leave, their eyes boring into my back long after I was gone._


	5. Chapter 5

The ferocity of the past now appalled Yumi, always her dreams had held the blessings of Kasu, Yumi had never been exposed to this raw resurfacing of the subconscious. Yumi never imagined just how much of a shield shy timid Kasu had been, she had always took his power for granted. Now, Yumi would never make that mistake again, the way past ravaged the hare's mind ensured this. It was sheer torture, and anything was better than the hell that Yumi's mind offered her to confront and sort out, something Yumi judged herself to be incapable of ever doing.

Yet much to Yumi's unending relief the swirl of terror faded at last from her consciousness, leaving true night. The darkness comforted Yumi, it surrounded her and implored her to forget, to abandon all that had happened, to fall into its embracing arms.

_It's ok,_

_Forget,_

_Let go,_

_Release,_

_Release everything,_

_And set sail,_

_Abandon,_

_Forfeit_

_Relax_

_Relax your grip on reality_

_Slip away_

_It is okay_

_Castaway, cast away,_

The shores of oblivion lapped at Yumi's mind and she leaned into its dark silky comfort. Drifting in her mind's abyss, Yumi felt true peace. Her breaths evened out, and her quivering form gradually calmed. The hare lay there, serenity gradually returning to her features, gradually as sunk into the welcoming arms of sleep, blissfully unaware of the rest of the world, and of the curious eyes of wonderment of her victim and host watching her, musing.

_-.-_

The cat closed her eyes and focused, her head gently resting on neatly folded paws. Within the sparkling abyss of her the cat's mind she saw glimmering sheets. A smile slipped over Kabegami's face. What fools the rest of them could be. How often had she been laughed at about her power? They didn't understand the full extent having dominion over barriers could be. Unsheathing silver claws, she swiped at the rich purple cover of sanity.

It felt so good, to have her claws plunge into that fabric and rend it apart. A heavy, pine aroma wafted around the goddess, and she silently mused just what it was that she had destroyed. _Oh,_ she realized after she identified the now destroyed cover, _Well, have your peace, Yumigami._

A step disturbed the soft turf near the resting goddess, and the cat's eyes snapped often. Her exquisite sword resting across her back, Tachigami stood on her two paws and suspiciously regarded the cat before her.

"I thought that you knew," Tachigami began, "that Mother Amaterasu has forbidden us on using our powers on that traitor until she has sorted this out." The rat's tiny white paw went to the blue-and-silver hilt of her blade. "Or," the rat's eyes narrowed, "Are you that despicable hare's ally? If so..." Tachi's paw closed around her lethally elegant weapon.

Kabegami narrowed her eyes, and tried to restrain the hate flowing through her veins. And failed. Hissing, the cat swiped at her enemy, who swung the blade at the coming cat. Elation filled the feline as the rat's blood splattered onto her face, and Kabegami gleefully wrenched her claw out of the rat's flesh as painfully as possible.

"We'll see who the _real_ traitor is," Kabegami smirked and abandoned the bleeding rat, her tail waving in the air, and it wasn't until she was well out of sight that Kabegami dared pause and heed the wound on her shoulder.

Licking the blood away, Kabegami mused what would happen now. Of course, this was far from the first time she and Tachigami had went at it... So very far from the first time... How many blows had the two exchanged? Kabegami shook her head. Trying to count only wasted her time. Still, would she also be exiled as well? She doubted it, but Tachigami really was rather influential and it could be possible. Sighing, Kabegami got up, stretched, and bounded away.

It wasn't that she owed anything to that damn hare. She was merely denying that rat her opportunity and pleasure of banning her. That, and she needed something to occupy her time.

Could Yumi really have been the one to have lead the Moon Tribe to attack? She doubted it, the hare was so serene and tranquil, hardly a likely candidate, yet it was still a possibility all the same. The cat shrugged, and continued. If that was the case and Yumi was guilty, she would kill the traitor. If not, she decided, she would just find who really was at the bottom of all this, and take care him.

And it would be a lie to say she wasn't hoping it was that rat.

**Sorry it took so long for me to update. To be perfectly honest, I kinda dropped this fic, but the reviews eventually, slowly, got me to start writing on this again. I'm also trying to get back into the game, though I have a lot of schoolwork. Anyways, I couldn't get myself to focus a lot on Yumi, so I decided to switch back to the Celestial Plains. Luckily my writer's block on this as well is slowly dissolving, thanks to the miracle of music (track 23 of the 4th Okami soundtrack, to be exact, lol, aren't I lame!) Also, the man in the previous chapters is not an OC. There is a nameless man in those fields outside Kamiki village, and I've decided to include and make use of him in my story. Sorry its so short, I'll try and do better next chap.**


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